john_amend_all

Jason Rafiel, a millionaire whom Miss Marple knew slightly, dies. In his will, he leaves a very large sum of money to Miss Marple, on the condition that she performs an investigation for him. She is given two tickets for a tour of historic houses and gardens. But it seems that she isn't the only person who's been sent there by the late Mr Rafiel. There's a retired headmistress, a professor who works for the Home Office... and two women who seem to be taking a very close interest in her.

Compared to the seven previous adaptations, this one is probably the one that's been changed most compared to the book. Nemesis is the last Miss Marple book written, if not the last one published, and it is a clear sequel to A Caribbean Mystery. Since ACM hadn't been adapted by the BBC at that point (maybe because of rights issues, or perhaps they thought it wasn't practical) the connection to the earlier story is pared down to the bare minimum. Instead, the adaptation opens with Jason Rafiel's death — shot on Burgh Island in Devon, which is also the setting for the book and 2001 adaptation of Evil under the Sun.

The scenery porn starts here.

There are various other changes, some great, some small. In the book, Miss Marple investigates solo, and we have access to her thoughts. In the adaptation, where this isn't really practical, she is given a ~~Poor Nut~~ Watson in the form of her godson Lionel.

I'm sure any resemblance to Nigel Bruce's Watson is entirely coincidental.

Michael Rafiel, who spends most of the book in prison and turns up at the end, is here present in both episodes, and has been made more sympathetic: a crusader for justice rather than just a former delinquent. Another improvement (in my opinion) on the book is that Miss Marple's implied rules of engagement are different: rather than being called in to clear Michael, she's there to bring the murderer (even if it turns out to be Michael) to justice. The attack on Miss Temple, which in the book takes place offstage, becomes a memorable cliffhanger.

Miss Barrow and Miss Cooke, 'middle-aged' in the book, have been de-aged to about 30, and at one point go riding about together on a motorbike. If this had been an ITV adaptation, I'd have suspected that they were up to their old tricks of inserting young lesbian couples where there were none before... but surely the BBC wouldn't dream of doing such a thing?

The Angels.

The attack on Miss Temple, as I mentioned before, is shown rather than retold. It's also moved from outside to inside: In the library of a great house, after the other tourists have moved on, Miss Temple lingers behind and has a bust of Shakespeare dropped on her head. That cliffhanger made quite an impression on me, because it's largely shot from Miss Temple's point of view, so one sees (as she does) the bust hurtling towards her but can't avoid it. The memory does cheat, though: The end of the episode is about ten seconds later than I remember it.

F = G(m₁m₂) / r² can be a harsh mistress.

The denoument was another behind-the-sofa moment for me on the original broadcast. It's one of the few occasions in the series where Miss Marple seems to be putting herself in genuine danger. No waiting in the shadows with a squad of policemen this time; having already agreed to stay in a decaying manor house full of creepy women...

"Now we're just the batty old dears who live in a ruin."

...she then formally robes herself as Nemesis (that is, she dons her pink woollen shawl) and confronts the murderer in person.

'"One of my names," she said, "is Nemesis."'

This time I didn't spot any glitches in the BBC's replication of the 1950s. Obviously something like the Historic Houses and Gardens tour would be meat and drink to them, so we get appearances by Blenheim, Stourhead and Chipping Campden (the last masquerading as Abbey Ducis). I didn't recognise any familiar faces, but the credits tell me that one of the coach party was Cy Town, a Dalek operator. Short of having an actual Dalek on the coach, though, there's no way I'd have recognised him.

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